Vandana Joshi. Gender and Power in the Third Reich: Female Denouncers and the (1933-45). Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003. xx + 229 pp. $65.00, cloth, ISBN 978-1-4039-1170-4.

Reviewed by Julia Torrie

Published on H-German (September, 2004)

In June 1939, Frau Hof, a working-class wom‐ Vandana Joshi's Gender and Power in the an from Düsseldorf, made a visit to the Gestapo. Third Reich: Female Denouncers and the Gestapo She had recently discovered that her husband had (1933-45) brings to light many cases like this one. lived with a prostitute before marrying her and It is a study of denunciations in the Third Reich that he carried a venereal disease. When Frau Hof that, Joshi argues, enabled women to "tilt the refused to sleep with her husband because of his scales of power in their favour, to appropriate illness, he became violent. Moreover, Frau Hof power and infuence, to fght for their dignity and told the Gestapo, "He is left oriented, I can not to subvert the patriarchal code of domination and take it any longer.... He says that he would never subordination" (p. 47). Members of the apparently become a National Socialist." The Gestapo looked "weaker" sex used denunciations as a way to at‐ into the case, noting that there was signifcant dis‐ tack the strong, "playing the game of use and cord between the couple, and that Frau Hof had abuse of power in an uninhibited and fearless already asked for her husband to be banned from way" (p. xii). the house. Herr Hof, though not at frst available Joshi's work speaks to both the historiography for questioning, was later called to witness by the of women in Nazi , and that of denuncia‐ Gestapo. He denied the charges, suggesting that tion. The former historiography was dominated his wife had simply wanted "to get rid of [him]." for some time by the dichotomy of victim/perpe‐ In view of the fact that Herr Hof had "not come trator, but Joshi's work is part of a newer trend into notice politically before," the Gestapo warned that highlights the messiness of such distinctions, him to behave himself, reported his venereal dis‐ and problematizes the blanket category of "wom‐ ease to the health authorities, and concluded that, en" itself. Joshi undertakes a gender-based analy‐ "there are no grounds to pursue the matter fur‐ sis that remains conscious of the great variety of ther" (pp. 52-55). women's experiences and roles. H-Net Reviews

The study of denunciation in the Third Reich, Many of those accused were not even brought to for its part, is a comparatively young feld, yet one trial, though this statement must naturally be that has grown signifcantly in recent years.[1] It tempered in view of the dire outcomes of denun‐ was developed primarily through the work of ciation for those who were considered racially or Robert Gellately, who argued that citizens' denun‐ otherwise inferior (p. 18). ciations to the police were far more widespread Women's roles as denouncers have been doc‐ than hitherto believed, and that in fact, the umented in the past, notably by Helga Schubert in Gestapo relied on this kind of popular participa‐ Judasfrauen, a book that presented ten case stud‐ tion to do its job.[2] Gellately's work made popu‐ ies of female denouncers, drawn from the records lar consent, as evidenced by denunciation, a cru‐ of the Volksgerichtshof and post-war trials.[4] cial element in our understanding of the Nazi sys‐ Joshi adds subtlety to the picture presented by tem. Schubert and the few others who have treated While Gellately showed that popular denunci‐ sensational cases, or tried to establish a statistical ations were often at the root of Gestapo investiga‐ basis for understanding the extent of female de‐ tions and that fear of denunciation encouraged nunciation.[5] Hers is the frst scholarly mono‐ loyalty to the regime, Eric Johnson, in 1999, sug‐ graph to examine female denunciation in a sys‐ gested that this may have been more true of some tematic way, considering not only its extent and cases than others.[3] Johnson underlined the fact outcomes, but also the social context of such de‐ that the Gestapo was particularly interested in nunciations, and the interaction between the certain targeted groups, and in enforcing particu‐ Gestapo, the denouncer, and the denounced. lar policies, especially those regarding race. "Ordi‐ The study is based on a selection of the sur‐ nary" Germans who followed the rules of the viving fles of the Gestapo for the city of Duessel‐ regime had little to fear, even from denouncers, dorf, preserved at the Nordrhein-Westfaelisches because the Gestapo did not pursue cases against Hauptstaatsarchiv.[6] The introduction defnes them with the same vigor. Fear of denunciation, the subject and positions Joshi's work in the histo‐ for Johnson, was not a necessary element to en‐ riography. Chapter 1 deals with sources and sure the loyalty of the general population. methodology, noting, for instance, that Joshi has Joshi's work lies somewhere between these included in her examination cases that involved two points of view. She suggests that denunciation denunciations at a later stage of the investigation, remained threatening even to those who were not not just at its outset. This chapter is followed by singled out for special persecution by the regime. three content chapters, each focused on a particu‐ Behaviors that were perceived by the state as dan‐ lar issue and including several case studies. The gerous or disloyal, but which took place inside the frst of these (chapter 2) treats women's denuncia‐ home, would likely not have come to the attention tions within the family, and includes the case de‐ of the state without denunciations. Denunciation scribed above. It argues that "family and marriage was also at the root of many cases involving remained the spheres where women readily be‐ who tried to hide their racial identity, and those came accusers," using denunciation to redress the who committed , or "race defle‐ power balance in the household (p. 81). Women ment." But Joshi also reminds us that we need to were more likely to denounce their spouses than be careful about assuming that denunciation au‐ men, and Joshi suggests that the existence of these tomatically led to doom for the denounced indi‐ denunciations undermines 's asser‐ vidual. Most of the cases that she examined "did tion that and wives "made a vital contri‐ not result in the execution of the denounced." bution to Nazi power by preserving the illusion of

2 H-Net Reviews love in an environment of hatred."[7] Lower-mid‐ 2, for instance, it would be helpful to know how dle- or working-class urban women tended to be many married couples there were in the city of the ones who fled reports with the Gestapo, and Duesseldorf, or even among the people mentioned such reports were most likely to lead to the perse‐ in the Gestapo fles, so that one could get a better cution of the denounced party if he was a mem‐ sense of the real extent of women's denunciation ber of a group considered racially "inferior," like of their husbands.[8] If we are intended to con‐ the Poles. clude from these cases that "the very notion of the In the third chapter, Joshi tackles the denun‐ family as the 'safe haven' was turned upside down ciation of Jewish victims specifcally. Whereas by these disgruntled wives as never before," we women denouncers were preponderant in the need to know not only how many women de‐ cases discussed in chapter 2, they tended to be nounced their husbands, but also how many did slightly outnumbered by men in cases involving not (p. 46). It would also be interesting to delve Jews. Joshi suggests that women took it upon more into the multifarious outcomes of these cas‐ themselves to "police" semi-private areas like es: how often, as in the case mentioned at the out‐ apartment buildings or grocery stores, while men set of this review, did a denunciation to the focused on the workplace, and expressed social Gestapo lead to the involvement not just of the po‐ jealousies through their denunciations. lice, but also of the health ofces or welfare au‐ thorities? Chapter 4 tackles the sexual interaction of "" and "racially foreign" individuals. A Although most of the work focuses on the small number of sexually abused female foreign theme of denunciation, chapter 4 brings together workers found the courage to report the men who many diferent types of cases under the heading tormented them to the authorities. Joshi traces the of "gender oppression." Denunciation itself be‐ "appropriation" of the state's power by these comes rather peripheral to these cases, something women, who, far from being passive victims, ef‐ that should be made clearer to the reader. The fectively pressured the regime into disciplining case studies of "racially foreign women" who re‐ their "" aggressors. The chapter then turns ported their rapists to the police are fascinating, to the role of denunciation in reports of misbe‐ and show that at least some of these individuals havior by foreign women selected for "Germani‐ were able to make accusations against their ag‐ sation," and to the moral policing of "Aryan" sol‐ gressors stick. These women used the power of diers' wives who had relationships with foreign the regime to their own ends, and thus they were workers. The concluding section of the work gives acting in a somewhat analogous way to the female statistics showing gender breakdowns of the cases denouncers the rest of the work examines. How‐ Joshi has studied and their outcomes, then sum‐ ever, it seems a little misleading to call what these marizes the key points. women were doing denunciation, as Joshi does (p. 139). They were reporting real crimes of which A reader of this account can learn a great deal they were the victims and they were reporting about diferent types of women's interaction with these crimes directly, without any pretense of the Nazi system. The author's sensitivity to the full there being an element of political disloyalty to "process" of denunciation, from start to fnish, is "justify" the case. The term denunciation is con‐ particularly instructive. The many case studies fusing when it is used to describe a direct accusa‐ keep the volume grounded in the sources, and re‐ tion by a raped against her aggressor. veal the details of many of these fles for the frst These cases should be considered in the wider time. However, the reader would beneft from a context of male sexual misconduct, gender and broader contextualization of the cases. In chapter

3 H-Net Reviews power relations in the Third Reich, but not in that to the subject, while the articles in Historical So‐ of denunciation specifcally.[9] cial Research/Historische Sozialforschung 96/97 Beyond this, the overall organization of the (2001) highlight more recent research. book is a little illogical. The statistical material [2]. See especially Robert Gellately, The contained in the conclusion could have been de‐ Gestapo and German Society: Enforcing Racial veloped more and made into a successful chapter Policy, 1933-1945 (Oxford: Oxford University on its own, or else been incorporated into the Press, 1990). chapter on methodology. A reader provided with [3]. Eric A. Johnson, Nazi Terror: The Gestapo, a strong overall picture at the outset wouldfnd it Jews and Ordinary Germans (New York: Basic easier to orient him or herself in the rest of the Books, 1999). work. Another, more minor, irritant in the book is [4]. Helga Schubert, Judasfrauen: Zehn the considerable number of typographical and Fallgeschichten weiblicher Denunziation im Drit‐ editing errors. These would not ordinarily be ten Reich (: Aufbau-Verlag, 1990). worth mentioning, but they are sometimes suf‐ cient to distort the meaning of sentences, or other‐ [5]. Other works that deal specifcally with wise confuse the reader. For instance, there is a women and denunciation are Gisela Diewald- reference to an item in Table 1.1 that appears to Kerkmann, "Politische Denunziationen--eine be missing, though in fact it is simply labeled dif‐ 'weibliche Domaene'? Der Anteil von Maennern ferently in the table (p. 37). Finally, the fow of the und Frauen unter Denunzianten und ihren book, and its overall coherence, is somewhat Opfern" 1999 11 no. 2 (1996): pp. 11-35; and Eric hampered by frequent references to historiogra‐ Johnson, "German Women and Nazi Justice: Their phy and methodology. One wishes that these ad‐ Role in the Process from Denunciation to Death" mittedly important issues had been restricted to Historical Social Research/Historische Sozial‐ the introductory chapter and the footnotes, leav‐ forschung 73 (1995): pp. 33-69. Inge Marssolek, ing the main text free for the case studies and Die Denunziantin: die Geschichte der Helene Joshi's interpretation of them. Schwaerzel (Bremen: Temen, 1993) focuses on the woman who denounced Carl Goerdeler and Gender and Power in the Third Reich is a use‐ whose story was also told in the flm Die Denun‐ ful complement to the historiography of denunci‐ ziantin, dir. Thomas Mitscherlich (Absolut Medi‐ ation in . The work as a whole will en, 1993). be of greatest interest to specialists, but certain sections, such as the chapter on wives as de‐ [6]. Rather than sampling all categories of nouncers, might be fruitfully employed in gradu‐ fles, Joshi sensibly focused on those where one ate or undergraduate courses. Joshi's emphasis on would expect to fnd instances of what she calls, denunciation as a process, and her attempt to "gendered and racial othering at the societal lev‐ delve into the social background and motivations el" (p. 34). She used random and stratifed selec‐ of female denouncers in particular adds consider‐ tion methods to choose 366 dossiers, the bulk of ably to our understanding of women's place in the which come from the frst two of the following Third Reich. categories: Heimtueckegesetz, Judentum, Frem‐ darbeiter, Fremdvoelksiche Minderheiten, KPD Notes and Kommunismus. [1]. Sheila Fitzpatrick and Robert Gellately, [7]. Claudia Koonz, Mothers in the Fatherland Accusatory Practices: Denunciation in Modern (New York: St. Martin's, 1987), p. 17, cited in Joshi, European History, 1789-1989 (Chicago: University p. 46. of Chicago Press, 1997) gives a good introduction

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[8]. It should be noted that the Reich Statistics also involves a woman denouncing a man who Book and other sources are used at various has used violence against her. points, for instance to quantify divorces nation‐ wide, p. 205 n. 16. [9]. An element of denunciation was involved in two of the three case studies used by Joshi. Two of the women had frst told a male whom they presumably trusted about their situations, and then this man reported the crimes to the police. This is not, however, the facet of the cases that Joshi highlights--she is more interested in the non- compliant behavior of the women, the "gender op‐ pression" itself, and the fact that the perpetrators were not punished for this, but for abuse of their ofcial positions instead. Hence, these cases seem rather misplaced in a work that otherwise deals with power plays surrounding denunciation prop‐ er. Joshi follows Fitzpatrick and Gellately's widely accepted defnition of denunciation as "sponta‐ neous communications from individual citizens to the state (or to another authority such as the church) containing accusations of wrongdoing by other citizens or ofcials and implicitly or explic‐ itly calling for punishment" (Sheila Fitzpatrick and Robert Gellately, "Introduction to the Prac‐ tices of Denunciation in Modern European Histo‐ ry," Journal Of Modern History 68 (December 1996): p. 747). This quite general defnition, cited by Joshi in her introduction (p. 8), omits the politi‐ cal element of denunciation, though this does come up in Joshi's subsequent discussion of the negative connotations of the term (pp. 9-10). Fitz‐ patrick and Gellately point out, just below the pre‐ vious reference, that denunciations "are likely to invoke state (or church) values and to disclaim any personal interest on the part of the writer, cit‐ ing duty to the state (or the public good) as the reason for ofering information to the authori‐ ties." This second part of the defnition rules out the kind of case Joshi considers in chapter 4, and clarifes the diference between those cases and the one cited at the beginning of this review that

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Citation: Julia Torrie. Review of Joshi, Vandana. Gender and Power in the Third Reich: Female Denouncers and the Gestapo (1933-45). H-German, H-Net Reviews. September, 2004.

URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=9768

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